Meralco rates tipped to decline this September
After two straight months of hikes, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) expects power rates to fall this September, as the stronger peso lowered dollar-denominated supply costs.
In a statement on Tuesday, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications Joe Zaldarriaga said the group was seeing a weaker generation charge.
As the generation charge accounts for more than half of the electricity bill, the official said this may lead to a possible reduction in the overall September rate.
“The decrease is mainly due to a stronger peso against the US dollar, which affected costs of Meralco suppliers that are dollar-denominated,” he said.
“This was able to more than offset the cost recovery of SMC Global Power for its terminated contracts, implementation of which was given the go-signal by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) beginning this month,” Zaldarriaga added.
The ERC earlier allowed South Premiere Power Corp. and Sual Power, Inc. (formerly San Miguel Energy Corp.) to collect from Meralco P5.1 billion in cost recovery. Meralco said the price adjustments would reflect in consumers’ power bills for six months, starting September.
Meralco will announce the actual rate adjustment on Wednesday.
Last month, the power utility imposed a minimal upward adjustment of P0.0327 per kilowatt-hour (kWh). This followed a hefty increase of P2.1496 per kWh in July.
Meralco only earns from distribution, supply and metering charges.
Franchise area
The franchise area of the power company covers Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal, as well as select areas in Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.
It ended the first six months of 2025 with more than 8 million consumers across its franchise area.
In July, the company slashed its energy sales volume forecast for the year due to persistent market challenges, coupled with cooler weather.
Ferdinand Geluz, senior vice president and chief revenue officer at Meralco, previously said the group now expects sales to grow by 1 percent to 2 percent. This was earlier forecast at 4 percent to 4.5 percent. It saw energy sales slightly up by less than 1 percent to 27,091 gigawatt hours.
